


A Pal And A Confidant

by PrinceOfOneSingleDomain



Category: Adventure Time, The Last of Us
Genre: Angst, Chance Meetings, Crossover, Father-Daughter Relationship, First Meetings, Gen, Gun Violence, Internal Conflict, Madness, Magic, One Shot, Platonic Relationships, Post-Apocalypse, Protectiveness, Simon and Marcy meet Joel and Ellie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 02:41:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15654075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceOfOneSingleDomain/pseuds/PrinceOfOneSingleDomain
Summary: When travelling through the University on the way to the Fireflies' lab, Joel notices an entire room of Clickers and Bloaters decimated by ice and snow. Soon, he meets the source.Our two favourite post-apocalyptic father-adoptive-daughter pairs meeting and taking a liking to each other. However, nothing stays pure in a world past the brink destruction.





	A Pal And A Confidant

Joel had dropped into the darkness of the university expecting Infected out to get his throat, but he found snow instead. It covered the floors, the walls, the corpses of frozen Runners, Clickers, even a Bloater. Large icicles hung from the ceiling. He kept his gas mask on, his eyes blinking rapidly behind it, unbelieving.

What on earth?

There was something new at work here, something entirely different from anything he’d seen, and he didn’t want any part of it for himself or the girl. They had more than enough on their plate already.

He walked through the part of the campus behind the iron gate he had needed to move, and reactivated the door someone had jerry-rigged – maybe a desperate professor trying to keep out death, maybe even some of the Fireflies, though he hadn’t seen any of those yet. It dawned on him that whatever turned the dorm room into a freezing nightmare might have killed them, too, but he didn’t dwell on it. Best to keep moving forward.

“Joel, what’s wrong?”, Ellie asked. He got up on Callus, gently stroking the horse’s muscular neck, and shrugged.

“It’s fine, don’t worry ‘bout me, Ellie.”

“What the hell did you see in there?”

“Just a bunch of Clickers. One of ‘em scared me half to death.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. I just thought… I just thought you got used to those things, y’know? And you looked sorta out of it for a second there.”

“You never get used to some things, at least I hope I won’t.”

But there was no going back. Even if they found a cure, or something to prevent the infection with, he’d always have this awful span of a good twenty years where all he knew was grief, survival and fighting to the death. He remembered the first time he had bashed a man’s skull in with a pipe, his eyes bulging outwards from the pressure.

“Joel.”

“Ellie, I told you, I’m fine. For God’s sake.”

“No, Joel, look! There! Right there!”

Joel followed the course of her finger, whose hand had almost shoved him off Callus with its eagerness. He didn’t see anything at first, focusing on the Science Lab’s building in front of him, somewhere past the fluttering autumn leaves. His eyes followed Ellie’s finger down.

A small girl, grey skin, black hair, blue dress. Clutching a red bear with long limbs. Leaning against a corner, trying to hide her face. Scared. Alone.

How did she get here? This was shaping up to be a strange day, even stranger than usual.

“Hey!”, Joel called, “what are you doing here?”

“Simon!”, the girl yelled, “there’s a scary man here!”

Not alone.

“Wait, we won’t hurt you!”, Ellie yelled, but Joel could already hear someone approach, soon he would turn the corner, and maybe he’d just go ahead and shoot them both dead, he knew he’d do the same for Ellie – and maybe this was Simon’s Sarah, he realised, someone he would die and kill for, both on the same day if need be, and in that order.

Joel pulled out his revolver. Two bullets. Fuck.

“Joel, put the gun away, quick”, Ellie whispered. Joel shook his head no. This was it. It all depended on Simon now. If he came out unarmed, which he shouldn’t be in this world anymore, Joel would put his gun as far away as he needed to and just talk, talk about what that Simon had seen and done, ask him how old his little girl was. Be friendly.

If Simon came out with a weapon drawn, ready to fire, determination in his eyes – this might turn ugly. But he’d rather get a good wound in his stomach before he killed a father in front of his daughter unprovoked.

“Simon”, Joel yelled, “you better come out here unarmed or else we’re gonna have a bit of a problem.”

A small white flag appeared by the corner. The grey girl looked up at it. She stomped her little foot and looked at Joel nervously, eyeing his gun.

“Simon, that didn’t even work last time!”

“Shush, Marcy, I have a good feeling about this”, an old, high-pitched voice answered. It sounded a bit scared, nervous, fatherly but, most importantly, it was full of something Joel hadn’t heard in a long, long time. Kindness.

“Alright, you can come out, I won’t do nothin’”, Joel said. He kept his gun in his hand.

Simon was a tall, frighteningly pale man with a long, sharp nose, a large mane of white hair and an impressive, if unkempt, beard. Marcy stayed behind him, hugging his feet.

“We’re just travellers”, Simon said, “we’re not stealing anything.”

“That’s not true, Simon, we stole some soup”, Marcy whispered, loud enough for Joel and Ellie to hear. Ellie audibly chuckled.

“They’re a riot”, she said.

“Where are you guys from?”, Joel said, finally putting his gun away.

He didn’t even see any weapons on Simon – no rifle staring out of his large backpack, no gun holstered by his hip. The only thing about or on him that looked remotely dangerous was a large gold crown hanging where a revolver might have been, its red jewels reflecting traces the evening autumn sun left on the buildings.

“We’re from very far away, I’m afraid”, Simon said. He adjusted his glasses. “I wager you’re scavenging for supplies too?”

“Nah, we’re looking for the science lab. Is that the building over there?”, Ellie asked.

Simon nodded.

“I won’t ask what you want to do there”, he said, “just stay safe. You’re the only sane souls we’ve talked to these past few weeks.”

“Yeah, same to you, though there’s a place not far from here.”

Joel shouldn’t be telling them about this. Maybe they were shills. Maybe they were part of some new savage gang, one that used children and old men to bait others into giving them supplies. But Simon hadn’t even asked for anything, let alone where a haven could be. Joel felt Ellie warm against his back.

“Do you think they could come with us?”, Ellie asked.

Joel shook his head. The memory of two dead brothers was too fresh in his mind.

“Can we come with you?”, Marcy asked, suddenly detaching from Simon and walking toward Joel and Ellie.

Before Joel could do anything, Ellie had jumped of Callus and run over to Marcy, meeting her half-way. Simon hurried after his girl while Joel tried to tell his to get back on the horse.

But in a flash of the light, in a turn of the wind, Ellie had swept Marcy off her feet and asked her how old he she was, what her full name was, and the two girls were giggling, happy to have each other. It had been eons since one of them had seen a girl her age, and now, feeling the other's presence and a voice that sounded so much like theirs, a warmth spread among them. Marceline wasn't sure who Ellie was and what these strangers meant, but for the moment, she hugged the older girl and felt her hands on her back, gently painting lines between her small shoulders. Marcy smelled of ashes, Ellie thought. No gunpowder, no dirt. Simon must take good care of her, as good as he could in this world, anyway.

Simon and Joel looked on as Marcy introduced Ellie to her plush toy, Hambo. Ellie made a courteous bow and kissed his long, red tentacle-hand while Marcy beamed like she hadn’t since… since Simon had told her how much he loved her, and that he would protect her, really.

“Isn’t this somethin’”; Joel said. He turned to look at Simon’s reaction to all this – a tear, slowly running down his check into his beard, disappearing as if it had never even existed.

“Yeah”, Simon said, “really something.”

“So what did you do, before all this?”

“I was an antiquarian, actually taught here once or twice,”, Simon said, slowly composing himself. Ellie was telling her favourite Jokes to Marcy, who didn’t get most of them, which only made Ellie laugh a bit harder.

“You’re a man of science. Not much use for you guys anymore, though.”

“Bah, don’t tell me. Unless we make weapons or can cook food out of solid bricks, we’re pretty useless. What’s your name?”

“Joel.”

“Now that’s a good name. Did you ever see Batman Forever?”

“That weird one in the 90s?”

“Yeah, the one.”

“Loved it as a teen. Later, not so much.”

“It’s the best one. I acted it all out for Marceline at one point and she loved it.”

Joel realised that Simon was the only person he’d told his name to this year, other than Ellie. You don’t meet a lot of people you actually want to talk to anymore.

“What are you packin’ in there, old man?”, Joel asked. He nudged Simon’s backpack.

“Ah, just food. We’re… we’re running out ourselves, but if you need something…”

“Simon, lemme give you some advice. Don’t give stuff to people. No matter how much you like ‘em. Marcy’s your main goal here, I’d guess.”

“Of course, but – if we don’t help each other, what are we? We’re beasts, that’s all we’ll be if we give up on each other. That’s what I think, at least. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for Marcy.”

“What’s her deal with the skin being grey? Not to pry, but… You know.”

“She’s… She’s special. Marcy has some bonkers stuff in her parentage, it’s probably too weird to explain.”

“Well… Ellie’s special, too.”

“I bet she is. Look at ‘em go.”

Ellied led Marcy back to Simon, all the while holding the smaller girl’s hand. “I’d say they come with us, at least for a while”, Ellie said. “We can’t just leave them here.”

“We can fight!”, Marcy said, pumping her almost non-existent biceps. She bared her fangs, too. Wait, fangs? Better not to think about it too hard.

“Yeah, I guess that’s fine, at least until we reach the lab, I guess the Fireflies probably don’t want you guys in there.”

Simon nodded. “Sounds sensible to me, partner!”

“Don’t be too quick to call me partner, mate. We’re still finding our footing here.”

“Sorry, I just get so excited about friends, it’s…”

“Wait, can you hear that?”

He should have heard it before. He should have listened to his surroundings, not just to the girls laughing, though it had been entirely too long since he’d heard anyone laugh at anything. Had he listened, had he actually paid attention, he might have noticed a banging on the windows, far above them, and the hungry leer of infected biting at glass.

The window collapsed and three Runners fell out, right where Marcy and Ellie had stood. The entire group recoiled when their heads exploded on the floor, but another Runner landed on their pile, limping forward. Joel heard something behind him and turned around for a second to check.

Oh God.

Two Clickers, four runners. He had two bullets in his revolver, four in his gun, and a baseball bat slowly breaking at the seams. This was bad. He hadn't found any shotgun shells anywhere, no matter how hard he'd looked, so his rifle was basically a glorified stick.

“Girls, get behind us, hide somewhere, run, just get away!”, he said as quietly and evenly as he could, checking the barrel of his revolver one last time. Two bullets. Still. No magic.

“Simon, if you’ve got any guns, now’s the time.”

Marcy looked up at Joel. She started shaking her head. They didn’t have any weapons. Of course.

Joel took aim at the limping runner heading for them. Ellie followed suit.

“How many you got?”

The runners behind them roared.

“I got three”, she said through her teeth.

“We got this”, Joel said.

“Simon, _Simon, DON’T!”_

Marcy’s yell had drawn the Clicker’s attention, of course it had. Joel whirled around, aiming his revolver straight at the largest and toughest one of them, but the Runners were quicker, he didn’t know who to shoot, they’d be here any minute and tearing them all apart, all four of them –

“ _You devilish fiends will no longer terrorise a group of honest people!”_

Something blue shot out from Simon’s hands, and one the Runners, hit with something that looked almost like a cold laser, fell to the floor immediately. Dead. His body made a weird sound when hitting the ground, as if it had been turned solid.

“ _C’mere and get some, you disgrace!”_

Ellie was shooting the other Runner, it was going down, screaming in agony.

Joel chanced a look at Simon. He was wearing the crown, his hands raised high up in the air, a small blizzard forming above him, snow turning in a circle, reflecting the lights on it like a disco ball. Joel felt the cold radiating off Simon freeze the tip of his eyelashes, wet with perspiration.

“Simon, stop!”, Marcy yelled, desperately clinging at his pants.

_“Not now, Gunter!”_

The blizzard shot forward and exploded. Joel covered Marcy and Ellie with his body, feeling a deep cold wash over his backside. He turned his head around. No Clickers. No Runners.

Just snow.

“Simon, what the everloving hell was that?”

Ellie crawled out from under Joel. “Where is he? Where’s the grandpa?”

Marcy was looking upwards, clutching Hambo. Choking up. “S-Simon, come down from there!”

_“Ha! Hahaha! I will destroy all of you and take back this land in the name of ice and snow! Tremble before me!”_

Joel followed her line of sight to see Simon floating high above them, his hair and beard longer, his nose even sharper, and his eyes the colour of madness.

“Simon, what the fuck is going on?”, Ellie screamed. Simon turned to look at her.

_“Watch your tongue before the girl, Gunter!”_

He took aim at Ellie, his hand glowing. Joel aimed for the head.

“No, the crown! Get the crown! Please!”

Marcy tugged at his shirt, staining his pants with her tears. He nodded.

“You got it, kiddo.”

He shot. Simon did whatever it was he did.

Joel hit. Simon missed.

He caught the scientist in his arms, surprised at just how thin and light the man was underneath his clothes and beard. The crown floated to the snow bedding it had made for itself. Joel let Simon down.

“Wh-wha?”

Simon seemed to be disoriented at first, not sure what had happened, but then recognised Joel, his eyes turning wide in horror.

“What did I do, Joel?”

“You saved us”, Joel said slowly, looking at melting sheets upon sheets of snow around him, “and then you almost killed Ellie.”

“Oh God. I can’t – I’m so sorry, the crown does these things to me, but it’s the only way I can protect Marcy, and I…”

_“Simon!”_

Marcy threw herself on top of him, burying her face in his vest.

“Please never do it again, please, Simon!”

“I won’t, Marcy, I promise, stop crying, it’s alright. My sweet.”

Joel and Ellie stood by. There was a sense of finality to the scene. A couple of snowflakes were still falling on Marcy’s heaving back. Simon looked at Joel. Joel looked back, not sure what to say, but absolutely sure what to do.

“We can’t take them along”, Ellie said, “we’ve got too much crazy on our hands already.”

“Yup”, Joel said.

“Should we… should we just leave them here? It doesn’t feel right.”

“Give me a sec. Get Callus.”

The horse had run off somewhere during all this trouble, but he heard hooves nearby in the silence Simon had created, so he couldn’t be too far away. But Ellie didn’t move.

Well, here goes.

Joel kneeled down next to Simon.

“Listen, I might not understand what the deal with that crown is. To be frank, I don’t wanna know. But if it puts you all in danger, it’s probably not a good thing, y’know?”

Simon nodded. “I know, but…”

“Here.”

Joel reached into his backpack and retrieved his handgun. Four bullets in the magazine. He locked it.

“Keep it”, he said.

“I can’t – Joel, really, I can’t possibly accept this, you need it.”

“We’ll be fine. Ellie’s got a gun now, and I’ve got a rifle in the back. We’re right by the lab anyway.”

Simon eyed the handgun. He took it with a long, hard gulp, as if he were scared of its power.

“Stay safe. And keep her safe.”

Joel stood up.

“You too”, Simon said, slowly rising himself, carrying a slightly more composed Marcy on his arm.

He found his crown while Joel and Ellie were looking for Callus, and when Joel turned around, he didn’t see a single trace of Simon or Marcy anywhere, safe for a couple of footprints in the snow, leading ever further away.

“They’ll be fine, right?”, Ellie asked.

For the first time since he had started all of this, Joel had met someone who posed so much more of a danger to himself than all the Clickers in the world could – if the crown was magic, and Joel was starting to believe it was, it might even freeze an army of bloaters before anything happened.

But Simon’s eyes had been gone. There was a different entity in there. He looked at Ellie. She was looking at something in her palm, and he recognised it as one of the buttons that had been on Marcy’s little plush toy. She put it in her pocket. 

“Yeah”, he said, “They just might. Now let’s keep going, we got a lab to find.”

Already outside the campus, Marcy listened to Simon sing an old theme song to calm her down – it was Golden Girls this time – while the crown hung off his hip.

Waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> I certainly hope you all enjoyed this one! I was wondering for a long time how a meeting like this could go down, and this is how I think it just might happen.
> 
> As always, any form of criticism is very welcome, and I love reading all of your comments


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